Amazon’s results over the past holiday season are mind-blowing. While the company holds some data close to its vest, like the number of customers that ordered and the dollar amounts those orders represented, it reported that this past Cyber Monday was the single biggest shopping day in Amazon’s history, surpassing Prime Day 2017, which until then was its biggest day ever.

Throughout 2017 its Prime membership has been the linchpin of its growth strategy. For an annual $99 subscription fee, members receive free two-day shipping for many, though not all purchases, unlimited streaming of movies and television shows with Prime Video, lending-library services for Kindle users and special discounts on products only available to Prime members

Such special Prime services have enticed an estimated 70 million-90 million people to sign up for membership, though the company doesn’t reveal the exact number of Amazon Prime members. It did, however, report that in 2017, Amazon shipped more than 5 billion items worldwide via Prime and it signed up more new paid members throughout 2017 than in any previous year.

Amazon’s dominance of ecommerce in particular and retail in general will no doubt continue unabated this year. Amazon is simply “too big to fail.”

Signing up more third-party sellers is next on Amazon’s agenda

Now with its customer reach second to none, Amazon is intent on capturing more sales through its third-party sellers program. While third-party sellers are limited to a range of open categories in which they can list products for sale, other categories are subject to approval and require sellers to step up their level of commitment to Amazon to the professional level for an additional $39.95 monthly fee.

Nonetheless, such third-party agreements are appealing to many small businesses and individual sellers as the company reports, “More than 40% of Amazon's total unit sales come from third-party selections.”

For small businesses seeking new customers, selling through Amazon can be mighty attractive. Over the past holiday season, the company reported, “More than one billion items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide this season – and over just five days, from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, nearly 140 million items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs.”